I Gave You My Heart
by Elmo824
Summary: The rain on the wet pavement caused her to nearly slip as she exited the diner. Her dripping auburn hair whipped her face, and her scarlet scarf nearly flew off her neck, but she didn't care. As she climbed into her car to escape the rain and all-too-recently befallen heartache, Regina Mills only had one thought in her mind: Kill Emma Swan. Post Season 3, no Frozen. Chapter 2 up!
1. Chapter One

The rain on the wet pavement caused her to nearly slip as she exited the diner. Her dripping auburn hair whipped her face, and her scarlet scarf nearly flew off her neck, but she didn't care. As she climbed into her car to escape the rain and all-too-recently befallen heartache, Regina Mills only had one thought in her mind:

_Kill Emma Swan._

The words rang over and over like a battle cry from an angry crowd. But the chant was hers alone, playing on repeat as Regina drove home through the rain, hands clamped to the steering wheel, eyes glued to the road and teeth clenched until her jaw ached.

_Kill Emma Swan. Kill Emma Swan. Kill Emma Swan._

Regina knew she couldn't actually execute the blonde life-ruiner; she had merely gotten Henry back, and she wasn't about to lose him again. And killing Emma Swan would definitely result in her losing him. Again. Still, something had to be done to mend the irreparable damage to Regina's heart. Damage caused by Emma. So Regina's mind worked in overtime until she concocted a new chant to occupy her mind:

_Ruin Emma Swan's life._

The house was quiet when Regina entered the kitchen, and although the quietness had been a staple in the large mansion lately, tonight the lack of sound was especially palpable.

Recently, Henry had been staying with Emma, and Regina had been left alone to her own devices…and her own peacefulness. Even though she missed having Henry around, Regina had to admit that she often enjoyed the unobtrusiveness the house offered when it was just her. But not tonight. Tonight, the silence was almost too much to bear.

After flipping on all of the lights in the kitchen and living room, Regina proceeded to find a music station on her TV after scrolling through the thousands of channels she never bothered to take advantage of. The sounds of country rock drifted through her television speakers, the first music channel Regina could find. Normally she hated country music, but tonight it served its sole purpose: background noise to block out the voices in Regina's head and the pain in her heart.

The rational side of Regina tried to tell her that Marion returning to Storybrooke wasn't Emma Swan's fault; she had accidentally got sucked into the past and thought that bringing back a stowaway – one that Regina had killed in a past life – was a harmless, courteous gesture. But Regina knew better than anybody, if someone altered the past, their present was also changed. And for Regina, that one tiny alter that Emma made was a life changing one.

Regina was done being rational. Anyone that knew her knew that she wasn't a rational person. If she wanted something done, she'd do it. If she needed something to be taken care of, she'd take care of it. It was as simple as that.

The solution to Regina's problem, however, wasn't as simple as just "taking care of something." There was Henry to consider. If something were to mysteriously happen to his birth mother, who wouldn't immediately turn around and blame Regina? They had every right to, too. If something bad happened to Emma Swan, Regina was usually the one to blame.

So outright harming Emma wasn't going to work for Regina. She needed a much, much sneakier plan.

Even with the hideous country music playing in the background, when the doorbell rang twenty minutes after she had returned home, Regina was more than startled. Who the hell would be visiting her at this time of night? Honestly, besides a select few people, who the hell visited Regina at all?

Despite her best forced efforts, Regina couldn't compose a nonchalant face when she opened the front door to find Robin Hood standing before her, dripping wet from his scruffy beard all the way down to his pant cuffs. And although her brain told her that he was probably freezing standing there in the cold rain, Regina's brain couldn't work fast enough to invite him in.

He smiled at her, much like he had been doing too often over the past month, his head slightly cocked to the side, his mouth barely showing teeth.

"Can…I come in?" He finally asked, his small smile never leaving his face.

Regina stepped back, a wordless invitation, and Robin Hood's feet planted on the rug inside the entryway, closing the large door behind him.

"By the look on your face," he said, slowly peeling off his jacket and draping it over one arm, holding it uncomfortably with the other, "you're surprised to see me."

"Uh, can you blame me?" Regina stammered, her first spoken words since her threat to Emma at the diner almost an hour ago. "What are you doing here, Robin?"

"I came to explain."

"There's nothing to explain," Regina deadpanned and walked through the kitchen into the living room.

Without looking behind her, she could hear Robin Hood remove his shoes and follow her. She thought about sitting down – Robin Hood's visit was beginning to make her dizzy – but sitting would imply a lengthy conversation, and Regina earnestly preferred to get this over with.

"I had no idea she was back," Robin Hood told her, sincerity and hope swimming in his eyes.

"I know."

"You have to believe me."

"I do."

The two stood facing each other, soft twangy music engrossing the tension-filled air.

"You have to understand," Robin Hood finally spoke, "that it was never my intention to hurt you."

"Oh, for God's sake, Robin, would you just get this over with?" Regina snapped.

She was beginning to empathize with her victims to whom she had forced slow and painful deaths upon.

Regina looked up at Robin Hood, his eyes unable to meet hers. He looked guilty. He looked sad.

"I thought she was dead," he said, his voice merely a whisper. "We have a son together. It's wrong not to give it another try."

"I understand," Regina said, using the same soft tone he had.

And the sad thing was, she really did understand. If the ex-love-of-her-life had appeared out of the blue, alive and well, there would have been no stopping Regina from pursuing the relationship and throwing her whole heart into it again. In fact, she had already done that once before.

But understanding or not, Regina Mills was _not_ someone you dumped and left by the curbside. She wasn't to appear vulnerable or heartbroken. She was strong and fearless, her head always held high. She was the Evil Queen, for crying out loud!

"I think you should go," Regina said suddenly, and she floated towards the front door.

She wanted to end with a snarky comment about not wanting to leave the wife waiting or not letting the door hit him on the way out, but she couldn't find it in her heart to make the words come out. What had happened to her? Where had the strong and fearless Evil Queen gone? And more importantly, what did Regina need to do to get her back?


	2. Chapter TWO

**Thanks for the reviews and follows, everyone! This is my first **_**Once**_** fanfic, and I'm really excited about it! Hope you like chapter 2!**

If anyone could back the Evil Queen's evil plan, who better to do so than Rumplestiltskin? The next morning, after having hot chocolate with Henry at Granny's – and seemingly avoiding running into Emma Swan – Regina paid Mr. Gold a visit in his shop.

It seemed sort of ridiculous that most of the people of Storybrooke kept up with the façade of living a normal small-town life, but the fact that Rumplestiltskin still ran his pawn shop in the heart of Storybrooke, Maine, was beyond ridiculous.

Nevertheless, the bells on the door chimed in an annoyingly chipper fashion when Regina entered Mr. Gold's store. And there he was, standing behind the counter, his deceitful grin too big for his face and his eyes glowing with just a hint of a sinister gleam.

"Hello, deary," he greeted her.

"Gold," Regina responded coolly, stripping her brown suede gloves from her hands, one finger at a time. "I need your help."

"Is that so," Rumplestiltskin said slowly, leaning against the counter as Regina walked towards him. "And why should I help you?"

"Because if you don't," Regina said slowly, "I'll tell Belle that you have the real dagger."

Rumplestiltskin edged back, surprise in his eyes for just one fleeting moment. "You have no proof."

Regina cackled a menacing laugh. "Oh, dear boy. You know she'll believe me. That girl may love you, but she doesn't trust you farther than she could throw your meaningless corpse."

"Harsh words," Rumple mocked, standing up straighter. "Careful, deary. You wouldn't want to go putting your foot into your exceptionally large mouth, now would you?"

"Do you want to help me take down Emma Swan or not?" Regina demanded impatiently.

"Mmm, not," Rumple simpered.

Regina reached into the pocket of her black trench coat to retrieve her cell phone. "And you're _so_ sure that your beloved Belle won't believe me when I tell her that her _fiancé_ lied to her? Again?"

Hesitation crossed Rumple's face, his mouth contorting to a defeated frown. "What exactly would you like me to do?"

"Easy," Regina smiled, leading Rumplestiltskin right into her web of trickery. "Help me go back in time."

"Easy," Rumple laughed in a high-pitched voice. "You still haven't learned, have you? You can't _easily_ go back in time."

"I'm aware of its consequences," Regina flinched, pushing last night's memories back down. "Now help me go back in time, and your girlfriend will remain none the wiser."

Rumple stared at Regina for a moment, sizing her up, his mind obviously reeling. "This isn't about Ms. Swan at all, is it?" He asked, his voice growing smug. "No, this is about your heart."

"I don't have my heart anymore." Regina gritted her teeth.

"I was speaking," Rumple rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet, "metaphorically."

_Me too_, Regina wanted to say, but spared Rumplestiltskin the satisfaction.

"Look," Regina reasoned, "if my dim-witted menace of a sister can figure out time travel, so can you."

"I already have," Rumple said, giving Regina his patent cunning smile, "but I'm going to need more than a promise of keeping quiet to take you back in time."

"Fine," Regina surrendered, "what do you want then?"

Rumple frowned, a perplexed look on his face. "When you go back in time, you need to save Baelfire."

Regina thought it over, once again running through the plan in her mind. She would go back in time to a month before Henry found Emma in Boston. This way, the idea of Emma, or at least her whereabouts, wouldn't be in Henry's sights. She would take Henry on a road trip to Boston, to expand his horizons, she would tell him. And in the midst of all the tourist embarking and bonding with her son to win him back, Regina would kill Emma Swan. This would be more difficult than killing her in Storybrooke or the Enchanted Forest because outside of those worlds, Regina would have magic. She would be plain old Regina Mills, mayor of small-town Storybrooke, Maine. And only _she_ would know that she was so, so much more than that.

If Emma was dead and never set foot in Storybrooke, the curse would have never been broken. Of course, in order to even _meet_ Robin Hood, Regina would need to break the curse herself. Sure, that meant possibly having to again take on her mother – maybe save her? – and Peter Pan and her wicked half-sister, Zelena. But it would be worth it for Emma Swan to be dead and Maid Marion back where she belonged.

If Regina went that far back, Rumplestiltskin's son, Baelfire or Neal or whatever he went by those days, would still be alive. The only trick would be to get him somehow to Storybrooke, which didn't seem nearly as impossible as the rest of it.

"Done," Regina promise and reached across the counter to shake Rumple's hand.

But Rumple wasn't so quick to agree. "What exactly is your plan, here?" He asked suspiciously.

So Regina filled him in on her brilliant plan, down to what to do with her own self when she goes back in time and her doppelganger is running around clueless. Regina had a plan of distraction for that, too.

"All right, but there's one thing you're forgetting," Rumplestiltskin told her, grinning. "I'm going with you."


End file.
